Print Offers

Breadcrumbs

In the past, door to door has been seen as a blanket or saturation coverage medium due to the low cost of print & delivery when compared to direct mail, radio or TV advert production however the industry is becoming ever more sophisticated and it is now possible to 'categorise' a variety of characteristics; Age, affluence, home ownership, type of house etc to gain a better response by understanding where your prospects might live. This increases the 'hit rate' for the same cost in production & distribution so improving the Return on Investment [ROI]. One of the great advantages of door to door distribution is its flexibility to test different areas, communication copy or messages. This is made even easier by our sub sector mapping system. Using this approach, results can be gained to determine the best areas, most responsive demographics or to produce maximum ROI. If you are in any doubt as to what your customer profile is, we would be happy to make some observations & suggestions from your existing customer base.

Style, Design & Copy

Great .. you know who your prospects are & where to find them .. Now you have to work out how to communicate your message to them.

What to say

How it will look

What the recipient will do with it

Copy is always important. It is the words that encourage a response after the design has caught the eye. Over 80% flick through leaflets that have come through the door, what the design of a leaflet must do is to catch the attention & say enough to get your prospect to call you. The most frequent mistake is to try to 'sell' from the leaflet ?.. unless it is for a takeaway or similar very low value, a high volume item then just provide enough to get the response & remember that if the flyer doesn't have an impact or there is too much to read, it won't be it will be consigned to the waste paper bin.

You might be a whizz with Photoshop or even Publisher .. if so then great you can design your own leaflets & brochure however if not, then it is always best to get a professional to do it. From crop marks [the lines put into the design so the printer can cut the leaflet exactly] to the right amount of bleed [the design overlap towards the edge of the page] there are many things to consider. If you're planning to do it yourself then please download our copy and design hints here .

It is also important that the designer understands what it required of a leaflet. It might sound simple but most graphic designers are artists, they create attractive & beautiful designs ... they don't have direct marketing degrees so it is very important that the essentials of good marketing principles are applied. As one final plea, if you are to do it yourself then please, provide the designer with the 'copy' or 'text' for your flyer - do not leave then to create the words for your flyer. If you are unable to do write it yourself, please engage the services of a copywriter.

Marketing Agencies will usually budget approx. 30% of the campaign cost on design .. for larger runs this may be unnecessary but when starting off, this might not be enough. Given the cost of printing, especially full colour and the cost of distribution, it is a false economy not to have a well designed leaflet. The good news is once the design has been made, you will be able to reprint without any further cost until you come to redesign and even then the framework has been designed so your designer will not need to start from scratch.

If this all seems to be too much .. just drop us a line and we can arrange for one of our designers to contact you. It helps if you give us as much information about the project and what you wish to achieve so we can match you up with an appropriate member of the team.

Response Mechanism

It is very important to consider what you want your prospect to do. Is it to log onto a website, if so make sure the site is up & running before the distribution is scheduled. If they are to visit a shop or exhibition, how about some sort of coupon or voucher with a code to identify which campaign & ideally name & address details for analysis & future activity. If it is to be by phone, consider an 0800 number to boost response & maybe a live, answering service to minimise the abandoned calls. If it is to be by post, then consider a Responses Services License for either Freepost or Business Reply. It would also be advisable to check the thickness of the material to ensure it meets Royal Mail guidelines.

Print & Production

Once what is to be said, how you are going to encourage action & the design has been decided, the next stage is to produce the material to be delivered. Plenty of time should be allowed for this stage if a litho press is to be used. Internally we have digital duplicators & copy printers available for quick, inexpensive and simple flyers however we also have great relationships with litho & full colour printers so are set up to get you the best deal. Another important consideration is the 'finishing' of the flyer, this is the jargon for post print activities such as punching or die cutting [using a template to cut out an irregular shaped leaflet], folding ie converting a flat sheet into a 2 page or tri fold brochure. If you are having anything more than a usual flat print, make sure that both you & the finisher understand what each party is responsible for ? One client, a Estate Agent, ordered 20,000 A4 wallets & then realised they were all unfolded. Cost to manually fold was in the order of £2,400 !!!

Distribution

Once printed, the material is either delivered to us or collected direct from the printer to avoid any double handling on your part. On arrival the consignment is checked, diagnosis a confirmation of receipt together with the number received is dispatched. The leaflets are bundled up, matched with the other leaflets they are sharing with, if appropriate, and distributed to the delivery agents. Actual delivery will occur sometime after this point. We always make every endeavour to distribute the material speedily, accurately & responsibly however by virtue of the fact that the work is carried on outside, weather conditions do provide an unpredictable element to the times. If the weather is icy or snow distribution becomes much slower & in some cases has to be abandoned completely if it poses risk of injury to the deliverers. If the weather is wet it is usual not to deliver, not just due to the discomfort of the usual deliverers but also most of the materials delivered are paper based & don't respond well or look good if sodden & scuffed, reducing response.